Sous Vide Question.

SV does a spectacular job of cooking various meats just right in terms of tenderness and moistness. One of the classics is a 72 hour cook for beef short ribs. The meat kind of "pops" in your mouth, its so juicy and tender. But the flavor can be quite low. Searing them on the Egg for a few minutes corrects that.

Cooking ribs on the Egg long enough to get a good dose of smoke, maybe 45 - 60 minutes, and then going SV results in super tender and smoky. But, good for a last trip to a direct sear to crisp up the outside.

And, yes, SV is remarkably undramatic. No odor, no boiling water. Kind of weird. For instance "Just spent 3 days watching the status lights, and haven't begun to salivate at all."  But after a sear, that is forgotten.

Will soon be pulling some short ribs that have been going since Thurs. I may fire up the mini to sear them but haven't made up my mind yet, since I'm feeling just a tad lazy today.

Do you still need to let the steaks sit after the sear?

pflug said:

Do you still need to let the steaks sit after the sear?

No.

What is also great about sous vide is that bag of juice you get is full of flavor.  The only problem I have had is using the juice successfully in the time between unbagging the meat and serving dinner.  It is full of uncoagulated protein which makes a mess of your sauce as soon as the heat hits it so you have to strain it or filter it out and then proceed.  But the results can be awesome.

@BigWader - that's what I did, boiled and strained the bag juice, then added S&P and garlic powder, I accidentally added too much garlic powder and it turned out better than usual!

Regarding texture, SWMBO does not like shrimp done SV. To her, they taste "undercooked" even though they are done and fully cooked.

I will say that to light up the LBGE to use my Baking Steel is a lot of charcoal for only a one minute +/- sea on each side of steaks.  Works great when cling several steaks. The Baking Steel at 550* + does a wonderful sear.

I just did a skirt steak the other day using my sous vide and the results were out of this world. Known as a tough cut of steak (but very flavorful..), the final results were pull apart in your fingers, and so moist. I also battled with firing up the egg for a minute sear on each side, so, this time finished it off on the stove to sear in a cast iron skillet. The next time I do something in the sous vide that I want to finish on the egg, I will cook other pieces of meat on the egg at the same time to justify the charcoal use.

How I did the skirt steak to taste wonderful? Very simple. Took the skirt steak and sprinkled with a little "Bone Sucking Sauce" steak rub on each side. Vacuum sealed and put in sous vide at 127 degrees for approx. 18 hours, then patted the steak dry and seared on stove top (cast iron pan) for 1 min. per side. My first skirt steak, sous vide style, and the results were amazing! Next time I will cook additional items on the Egg and finish with the skirt steak.

Just pour more water in, no protocol.  SV is a slow process, if the temp dips down for a few minutes it's not a big deal.

I use an insulated cooler for long and big cooks.  I have some styrofoam with a cutout that I cover the top with.  I've used heavy duty bubble wrap as well.  There is little evaporation this way.  Some people use plastic ping-pong like balls to curb evaporation. 

Got my Anova last week. Tried two 1" first cut strips. I cooked the 2 hours at 140 and they turned out beautifully cooked medium. I seasoned them as I would for the egg before i vacuumed them. Some how the seasoning was not there after searing on the ci over the cooktop. Otherwise the steaks were perfectly cooked. What did I do to lose the seasoning? What can I do to keep the seasoning? ( I used garlic salt and seasonall)

Yes, as skiddy said, the seasoning comes off in the juice and bag.  I season a second time before grilling.

@eggo, Board Sauces are sauces that you put on the cutting board and then slice the steak on the cutting board to absorb/coat the meat in the sauces.

Great info!